Despite ‘Legal Issues,’ Barling Liquor Votes To Be Counted

Votes for Barling’s ballot initiative seeking liquor sales in the dry town will be cast and counted Tuesday, but even if successful, the vulnerable measure faces an uncertain future that could end up in court if challenged.

Initiative petitioners, led by Barling Director Bruce Farrar, thought they had gathered enough signatures to trigger the question before voters. Farrar said he needed just more than 800 — 38 percent of Barling’s population — and secured nearly 1,000.

But on a tip, Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Shue researched the county’s liquor laws and discovered that the entire southern half of Sebastian County, not just Barling, voted to outlaw liquor sales in an April 1944 special election.

Lee Webb, chairman of the three-member Sebastian County Election Commission, has said that of the two districts, upper and lower, Fort Smith voted for alcohol sales and the Greenwood district voted against it.

“According to law, the entire district has to vote on whether or not Barling can have alcohol,” he said.

On Friday, Election Coordinator Jerry Huff said the votes will be counted in Tuesday’s general election.

“We tabulate the election,” he said. “What happens after that, we’ll have to see.”

A judge could have the issue nullified based on a complaint, Webb said. As of Friday, Huff said he knew of no official complaints.

“We’re just clerks,” County Clerk Sharon Brooks said Friday. “When they come in and file with us, we verify according to the statutes. That’s what we did. We verified the signatures. We can’t determine what goes on the ballot or not. We’re not the lawyers.”

Shue said the measure poses “some legal issues.”

“If it passes, I think it’s safe to say this matter may very well end up in litigation and a determination will have to be made in the courts,” he said.

According to an April 20, 1944, edition of the Southwest American newspaper, the Greenwood district, which includes Barling, voted dry 1,190-463.

“Although the wets rolled up a resounding majority in Fort Smith’s 13 precincts,” the article reads. “For the city proper, the vote was 4,407 wet to 2,763 dry.”

Farrar said liquor sales would boost the economy in his “bedroom community” with the arrival of several new businesses waiting in the wings.

The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority recently approved the sale of a Chaffee Crossing property in Barling after the buyers agreed not to make the transaction contingent on the liquor vote.

The buyer, Dr. Marion Smith, agreed to buy a 40-acre parcel along the east side of Arkansas 59 north of Arkansas 22.